Editorial Type:
Article
Article Type:
Research Article

MERRA: NASA’s Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications

Michele M. Rienecker Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

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Max J. Suarez Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

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Ronald Gelaro Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

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Ricardo Todling Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

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Julio Bacmeister Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Goddard Earth Sciences and Technology Center, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, Maryland

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Emily Liu Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Science Applications International Corporation, Beltsville, Maryland

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Michael G. Bosilovich Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

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Siegfried D. Schubert Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

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Lawrence Takacs Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Science Applications International Corporation, Beltsville, Maryland

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Gi-Kong Kim Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

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Stephen Bloom Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Science Applications International Corporation, Beltsville, Maryland

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Junye Chen Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Earth System Sciences Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, Maryland

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Douglas Collins Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Science Applications International Corporation, Beltsville, Maryland

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Austin Conaty Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Science Applications International Corporation, Beltsville, Maryland

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Arlindo da Silva Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

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Wei Gu Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Science Applications International Corporation, Beltsville, Maryland

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Joanna Joiner Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamics Branch, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

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Randal D. Koster Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

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Robert Lucchesi Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Science Applications International Corporation, Beltsville, Maryland

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Andrea Molod Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Earth System Sciences Interdisciplinary Center, University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, Maryland

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Tommy Owens Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Science Applications International Corporation, Beltsville, Maryland

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Steven Pawson Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

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Philip Pegion Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Science Applications International Corporation, Beltsville, Maryland

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Christopher R. Redder Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Science Applications International Corporation, Beltsville, Maryland

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Rolf Reichle Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland

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Franklin R. Robertson NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama

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Albert G. Ruddick Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Science Applications International Corporation, Beltsville, Maryland

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Meta Sienkiewicz Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland
Science Applications International Corporation, Beltsville, Maryland

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Jack Woollen NOAA/National Centers for Environmental Prediction, Camp Springs, Maryland

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Print Publication:
15 Jul 2011
Collections:
Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-11-00015.1
Page(s):
3624–3648
Restricted access

Abstract

The Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) was undertaken by NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office with two primary objectives: to place observations from NASA’s Earth Observing System satellites into a climate context and to improve upon the hydrologic cycle represented in earlier generations of reanalyses. Focusing on the satellite era, from 1979 to the present, MERRA has achieved its goals with significant improvements in precipitation and water vapor climatology. Here, a brief overview of the system and some aspects of its performance, including quality assessment diagnostics from innovation and residual statistics, is given.

By comparing MERRA with other updated reanalyses [the interim version of the next ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) and the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR)], advances made in this new generation of reanalyses, as well as remaining deficiencies, are identified. Although there is little difference between the new reanalyses in many aspects of climate variability, substantial differences remain in poorly constrained quantities such as precipitation and surface fluxes. These differences, due to variations both in the models and in the analysis techniques, are an important measure of the uncertainty in reanalysis products. It is also found that all reanalyses are still quite sensitive to observing system changes. Dealing with this sensitivity remains the most pressing challenge for the next generation of reanalyses.

Production has now caught up to the current period and MERRA is being continued as a near-real-time climate analysis. The output is available online through the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC).

Current affiliation: National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado.

Current affiliation: NOAA/Earth Systems Resource Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado.

Corresponding author address: Michele Rienecker, Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, Code 610.1, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771. E-mail: michele.m.rienecker@nasa.gov

This article included in the Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) special collection.

Abstract

The Modern-Era Retrospective Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) was undertaken by NASA’s Global Modeling and Assimilation Office with two primary objectives: to place observations from NASA’s Earth Observing System satellites into a climate context and to improve upon the hydrologic cycle represented in earlier generations of reanalyses. Focusing on the satellite era, from 1979 to the present, MERRA has achieved its goals with significant improvements in precipitation and water vapor climatology. Here, a brief overview of the system and some aspects of its performance, including quality assessment diagnostics from innovation and residual statistics, is given.

By comparing MERRA with other updated reanalyses [the interim version of the next ECMWF Re-Analysis (ERA-Interim) and the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis (CFSR)], advances made in this new generation of reanalyses, as well as remaining deficiencies, are identified. Although there is little difference between the new reanalyses in many aspects of climate variability, substantial differences remain in poorly constrained quantities such as precipitation and surface fluxes. These differences, due to variations both in the models and in the analysis techniques, are an important measure of the uncertainty in reanalysis products. It is also found that all reanalyses are still quite sensitive to observing system changes. Dealing with this sensitivity remains the most pressing challenge for the next generation of reanalyses.

Production has now caught up to the current period and MERRA is being continued as a near-real-time climate analysis. The output is available online through the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC).

Current affiliation: National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado.

Current affiliation: NOAA/Earth Systems Resource Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado.

Corresponding author address: Michele Rienecker, Global Modeling and Assimilation Office, Code 610.1, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771. E-mail: michele.m.rienecker@nasa.gov

This article included in the Modern Era Retrospective-Analysis for Research and Applications (MERRA) special collection.

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